Across The Universe With A Giant Housecat (The Blue) (7 page)

Next to Captain Keene was his first officer, Louis Paczoranni. Paczoranni was everything Keene wasn’t: young, easygoing, and open. He had a bright smile that stood out intensely from his dark complexion.
 

“I’ve been put in charge of you, Wolf,” Paczoranni said. “I’ll be showing you around the ship as soon as we get under way and making sure you get in enough time observing. We’ve set up a training room for you and Selburn, the other Space Reader.”

Selburn. So that was her name.

After the captain and the first officer, I was introduced to a swath of other officers and crew. I could not remember most of their names afterwards, but I promised myself that I would look up the crew manifest and try to memorize as many names as I could as soon as I was settled into the
Indomitable
.

I was then shown to a seat, as the debriefing was to begin. I realized I was sitting next to a woman I hadn’t noticed before. The only one not in uniform, she sat with arms crossed, chewing on her lower lip. She looked obviously uncomfortable and out of her element.
 

She was somewhere in her early or mid thirties, wearing a long black skirt and blue-gray tank top that revealed several tattoos of scientific diagrams—were those molecules? Atoms? Star charts?—on her shoulders and upper chest.
 

Her hair was cut into a spiky short-and-long style and had been dyed several shades of blue. She wore dark eye makeup and blue lipstick that matched her hair.
 

Katelyn would have loved her look.

The woman’s blue eyes connected with mine.

“You’re Alan Michael Wolf, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah. Who’s asking?”

“Samantha. Err—Dr. Samantha Selburn.”

“You’re a doctor?” To say she didn’t look the part was an understatement.

“Not a physician. Oh no. Indeed not. I’m the other Space Reader.”

Her? My mouth dropped open in surprise.

Before I could respond, Paczoranni was at the front of the room, announcing that the debriefing would begin.
 

As everyone who had been still standing sat down, Captain Keene came to the front of the room.

He opened his mouth and began to speak.

“Now I know you have all had your speculations about what our mission is. You’ve heard some things, I am sure. I’m going to put your suspicions to rest. Yes, it is a mission into deep space.”

A ripple of murmuring went around the room.

Keene continued. “We’ll be in hyperspace for five weeks, after which we will reach a planet which is known as Coriolanus. It’s a world that we haven’t touched yet.

“Two months ago, observers with long-range scanners discovered some unusual radiation readings coming from the planet. It could be evidence of alien life. Our mission is to go to the planet, take some readings, and survey the area. We will be landing there unless the atmosphere is hostile. We will be bringing along a full complement of scientists, as well as two supernumeraries.” He gestured towards Samantha and me. “They will be aboard as observers.” I smiled uneasily as all the heads in the room swung towards us. Undoubtedly, they were wondering why we were there. The confused looks on their faces told me that they hadn’t been told we were Space Readers.

“The mission is expected to take around three to four months. We will be refitting for the next few days, so you will all have a few days of shore leave here until we cast off. I suggest you use it well. Dismissed.”

Chapter 10

The
Indomitable
was going to be docked at Iron Horn Base for a few days so that it could be checked over and refitted in preparation for her five-week journey into space. Until then, I could stay in my quarters on the base.

Keene had said we would be away for three or four months. It seemed like an incredible amount of time. I hadn’t realized it would take that long. Did that change my decision to go along with the mission? No. Not in the slightest. It made me a little more nervous, but also a lot more excited.
 

So it would be three months or more before I could see Katelyn again. She would probably be ok with that. She would probably relish this opportunity for independence. Most importantly, I knew she would be somewhere safe.

 
I’d be in deep space, on the very fringes of what humanity had explored. Most of humanity’s planets and colonies were only a few hours or days away in hyperspace, maybe a week at most. Rarely more than that. People got nervous on journeys longer than that.

Once, fifty years ago, a ship had gone too far into hyperspace and vanished. Ever since then, even the most seasoned ship captains were wary of going that far into space.

Probably not Captain Keene, though. He seemed like the type of fearless captain who would
volunteer
for a mission like this.

I was pretty sure I was going to love being aboard the
Indomitable
.

#

I turned over again, feeling the covers twist around my legs.

I couldn’t sleep.

The last few days had passed quickly. I had spent most of my time helping Katelyn prepare for her new school, which started in mere days. I’d helped her move into a dormitory in the school wings. She had insisted on purchasing some pink décor to liven her place up.

Then, last night, we had said goodbye. She had shed a few tears, but I could tell she was excited for her new life.

So now it was just Leo and I in our quarters. Tomorrow we were leaving for our mission, and I couldn’t relax. Was it excitement or anxiety? Perhaps a blend of both. Either way, it made me too wired to sleep.

With a sigh, I untangled my legs from the covers and got up from my bed.

Perhaps a walk would help.

Leo’s golden eyes gleamed inquiringly at me in the dark.

“Going for a walk,” I murmured to him, heading for the door. He was at my side in a moment.

The corridor outside my quarters was dimmed to simulate night. There was no real night and day here on Iron Horn Base. But they did a good job of pretending.
 

The corridor was deserted, since most of the base was asleep. Good.
 

My feet bare, I padded down the hall. I always liked it that way—I felt like I could feel the life of the ship or station if I walked its halls in my bare feet. Iron Horn Base felt calm, asleep.

Like I should have been. I had an early start the next day and didn’t want to spend the first day of the mission yawning. If this walk didn’t help, I would be heading straight for the sedatives when I got back to my quarters.

The halls were nearly silent; the only sound was the faint hum of the base itself. Leaving the wing where my quarters were, I headed for the market area, where the shops and restaurants were.
 

When I had been a student here, the market area at night had been one of my favorite places to study. I could sit at a table at the food court, my study materials spread all around me in the silence. And if I got hungry, my favorite self-serve café was right there.

When I reached the market area, I saw that very little had changed since then. The restaurants were still there, as were the vendor carts, the other shops, and my favorite café.

 
A single person sat at a table inside, a cup of untouched tea in front of her. It was Dr. Samantha Selburn, the other Space Reader, wearing a black nightgown with a black satin robe over it.

She saw me and cocked her head. “I find I am unable to relax tonight. I take it you couldn’t sleep either?”

“No,” I admitted.

“You are welcome to sit,” she said, gesturing to the seat across from her.

I sat down, Leo sitting at my feet.

Samantha regarded him. “An unusual species,” she said. “One of the few alien species we have ever encountered, and the only one bordering on sentience.”

“If Keene has his way, that will change. He said there could be aliens on Coriolanus. Maybe these aliens are humanoid or intelligent.”

Samantha shrugged.

“You don’t think so?”

“I’d like to believe it. But we’ve been searching the galaxy for so long and with so little success, I find it not terribly plausible. What have we found so far? Kyvats, several kinds of microbes, plant life, mollusks, and those things that look like a cross between raccoons and rabbits.”

“Have they come up with a name for those, yet?”

“The scientific community is currently deciding between two options.”

“Ah.”

“You’re a scientist, aren’t you?” I asked, eyeing her scientific diagram tattoos. They were mostly covered by the robe, but some peered out around her neck.

“Yes.”

“How did you end up here?”

“I am a Space Reader, same as you,” she answered with a shrug, taking a sip of the tea.

“That’s not what I meant,” I said. “How did you
become
a Space Reader? You’ve probably been already told about me, but I don’t know about you.”

“No, you don’t, indeed,” she said softly, her eyes suddenly sad. “I am a scientist, as was my husband. We were working together on a project. We were the ones tasked with the analysis of the Blue Star compound you recovered from the late Lawrence Lockmere. Through an unfortunate accidental turn of events, we were both exposed to the Blue Star substance. He was part of the unlucky majority for whom Blue Star exposure was fatal. I was part of a different subset: it caused me to become a Space Reader.”

“It killed him, but made you a Space Reader,” I said, comprehending.

“Correct,” she said. She looked down at the table. “After his death, I decided to come here and present myself to the Stellar Intrepid. I will honor his memory by using the gift the Blue Star gave me when it killed him.” She blinked. “Also, I am sure I could never set foot in that laboratory again. We fell in love there, years ago, and worked side by side on project after project.”

Was that a tear I saw in her eye? She blinked it away fast, her face remaining calm but sad.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I am, too. If I could go back and switch places with him, I would.” She looked at me. “Truthfully, I am terrified about the mission. I’ve never been out into deep space before. I’d never even left my own home planet until I came here. He was always the adventurous one; he would have loved this.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Samantha. Accidents happen.”

“Never before. And not to me.” She rose to her feet, taking her cup of tea. “Good night, Alan. Sleep well.”

Chapter 11

The morning came uncomfortably early, the alarm I had set screaming in my ear.

I leaped to my feet, checking the time. Good. Still over an hour to go. Today was the day!

I headed for the shower, then got dressed. Lastly, I grabbed the bag I had packed the night before—it contained only the essentials. Leo was awake by this time, blinking at me.

“Come on!” I beckoned, leaning over him, my excitement evident in my voice. “We’re going into deep space! We’re going to be explorers!”

He lumbered to his feet, stretching his whole body, his mouth open wide in a yawn so I got an eye-watering whiff of kvyat breath.

“I’ll ignore the fact that you did that thing with your breath completely on purpose,” I said, trying not to gag.

His response was an innocent kitten mew. I could have sworn he winked at me.

“Come on!” I urged, flinging open the door. “Let’s go!”

I raced along the hallways at full speed, Leo at my side, my bag bouncing on my back.

It had been so long since I had felt this free! I no longer had to worry about my spine. I no longer had to worry about Katelyn, either, since she was here at the school and now in hands far more capable than mine. I realized I had been taking on the role of her parent as well as her brother lately, and it was nice that she was now old enough not to need me for a little while.

But, of course, I would miss her and her quirky ways terribly.
 

Reaching the nearest elevator, I flew inside, punching in the level I needed. The elevator door closed with a hiss and the elevator began to move so smoothly that I barely noticed it.

I was going into deep space! I would be a part of the Stellar Intrepid—though merely as a supernumerary—and not only that, they were letting me bring my kvyat along!

I was the luckiest young man in the world.

The elevator reached its destination and we tumbled out.

We were at the spaceport wing.
 

The place was bustling with activity. People came and went, and there were several crates of cargo being loaded. I dodged out of the way as a particularly large one got too close to me.

Then I saw her.

Parked sedately in Docking Bay Ninety-Four, the
Indomitable
loomed among the other ships.
 

She was beautiful.

Like most of the ships, she was gray-silver, with sleek lines. The word
Indomitable
was etched in a bold font across the side.

I took a moment to stare at her. She was going to be my home for the next few months.

Leo yowled, but the sound was drowned out in the noisy commotion around us. I gave him a quick scratch on his head to reassure him.

Then I headed for the ship.

#

“And these are your quarters,” announced Paczoranni, stepping beyond the doorway into a small room with two bunks. “You’ll have to share, of course. Your roommate is an engineer who will be up and about a lot of the time, so you may barely see each other. But you won’t be spending much time here yourself, anyway. Your schedule with Dr. Selburn is quite full.”

Paczoranni had spent the better part of an hour showing me around. I had seen everything from the emergency supply closets to the galley to the bridge itself. The
Indomitable
was a different design from the
Dragontooth
, and had a full-sized bridge instead of simply a cockpit.

I was thoroughly impressed. The ship, a far cry from my little bare-bones
Dragontooth
, had every amenity I could imagine. Paczoranni showed me the onboard cafeteria or mess hall. There was also a full suite of science labs for the team of scientists the
Indomitable
brought along for the exploration and analysis part of our mission.